#A to Z Blogging: R-S Reading Dark Family Stories

* Go to Day 1 

Chilling new reads!

Dark Fantasy: 

Black Bells, Dawn Napier -   Megan's imagination has always been too lively for her own good.

As children, Megan and her sister spent most of their time making up stories and playing games in their own fantasy world. Their favorite character was a lively chap named Jack Benimble, a harlequin covered in jingling bells, who they summoned with a simple rhyme. But fantasy can't protect them from human monsters, and a single event shatters their world.
* On the to-be-read list.



Mystery:

 Blood Family, Jacqueline Seewald -  In the fifth Kim Reynolds Mystery, Kim, an academic librarian, wants to locate her biological father, James Shaw. Unfortunately after finding him, he dies unexpectedly. It is now up to Kim to connect with the family she has never known. She discovers a half-sister, Claire, who is in need of her help; that Claire's stepmother died under mysterious circumstances, and her stepbrother disappeared. With Kim's fiancé, Lieutenant Mike Gardner, Wilson Township homicide detective, investigating along with Sergeant Bert St. Croix, the race is on to catch a killer intent on adding Kim to the list of deceased.

** Review: Enjoyable mystery, especially the relationships between Kim, her fiancé and her "new" family. Soon Kim finds herself the target of threats as she gets pulled into what is soon revealed as a family with more than its share of problems. Sometimes her new half-sister is tedious and seems almost babyish in her neediness while her personality at times seems to conflict with her supposed intellectual shortcomings, but Kim's value as a character is shown as she tries to help her new sibling. The real dynamics of the family become more interesting due to Kim's interactions with Claire and the house's other inhabitants.

 Short chapters make it a quick read. You don't need to read earlier books in the series, but it can help to establish some of the relationships in Kim's life. If you're looking for a light mystery, this was a good read overall, except for a couple incidents that I felt came out of nowhere. Look forward to reading more about Kim's new life after her marriage and hoping that cranky co-worker of hers is finally retired! 4 stars.